In this Book

The Image of the Jews in Greek Literature: The Hellenistic Period

Book
Bezalel Bar-Kochva
2010
Published by: University of California Press
Series: Hellenistic Culture and Society
summary
This landmark contribution to ongoing debates about perceptions of the Jews in antiquity examines the attitudes of Greek writers of the Hellenistic period toward the Jewish people. Among the leading Greek intellectuals who devoted special attention to the Jews were Theophrastus (the successor of Aristotle), Hecataeus of Abdera (the father of "scientific" ethnography), and Apollonius Molon (probably the greatest rhetorician of the Hellenistic world). Bezalel Bar-Kochva examines the references of these writers and others to the Jews in light of their literary output and personal background; their religious, social, and political views; their literary and stylistic methods; ethnographic stereotypes current at the time; and more.

Table of Contents

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Cover

pp. 1-1

Title Page, Copyright Page

pp. 2-13

Table of Contents

pp. vii-viii

Illustrations

pp. ix-x

Abbreviations

pp. xi-xii

Acknowledgments

pp. xiii-xiv

Introduction

pp. 1-12

Part I. From Alexander and the Successors to the Religious Persecutions of Antiochus Epiphanes (333 – 168 B.C.E.)

pp. 13-14

1. Theophrastus on Jewish Sacrificial Practices and the Jews as a Community of Philosophers

pp. 15-39

2. Aristotle, the Learned Jew, and the Indian Kalanoi in Clearchus

pp. 40-89

3. The Jewish Ethnographic Excursus by Hecataeus of Abdera

pp. 90-135

4. Megasthenes on the "Physics" of the Greeks, Brahmans, and Jews

pp. 136-163

5. Hermippus of Smyrna on Pythagoras, the Jews, and the Thracians

pp. 164-205

6. The Diachronic Libels and Accusations (A): Mnaseas of Patara and the Origins and Development of the Ass Libel

pp. 206-250

Part II. The Hasmonaean Period: From the Jewish Revolt to the Roman Conquest (167 – 63 B.C.E.)

pp. 251-252

7. The Diachronic Libels and Accusations (B): The Seleucid Court Scribe(s) and the Blood Libel

pp. 253-279

8. Agatharchides of Cnidus on the Sabbath as a Superstition

pp. 280-305

9. The Diachronic Libels and Accusations (C): Lysimachus of Alexandria and the Hostile Accounts of the Exodus

pp. 306-337

10. Posidonius of Apamea (A): The Man and His Writings

pp. 338-354

11. Posidonius of Apamea (B): The Jewish Ethnography in Strabo’s Geographica — Mosaic Judaism versus Second Temple Judaism

pp. 355-398

12. Posidonius of Apamea (C): Josephus on the Siege of Jerusalem by Antiochus VII Sidetes (132/1 B.C.E) — Antiochus the Pious and Hyrcanus the Tyrant

pp. 399-439

13. Posidonius of Apamea (D): The Anti-Jewish Libels and Accusations in Diodorus and Apion

pp. 440-457

14. The Geographical Description of Jerusalem by Timorchares, the Siege, and the Libels

pp. 458-468

15. The Anti-Jewish Ethnographic Treatise by Apollonius Molon

pp. 469-516

Conclusion

pp. 517-524

Appendix: The God of Moses in Strabo

pp. 525-542

Bibliography

pp. 543-576

Index

pp. 577-606
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